1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to computer network systems and in particular to use of network support packages within computer network systems. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to enhanced methods for utilizing a network support package to load a computer system's boot image from a boot server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network computer systems are generally known in the art. Also known is the general method for loading a boot image of a computer system from a remote boot server over a network. When booting a computer system over a network, the computer system's firmware typically utilizes the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to obtain the boot file from a boot device across the network. A network support package is provided to assist this remote (network) boot operation by processing the boot arguments obtained from the computer system and establishing a connection with a remote server to obtain the boot file. The network support package utilizes the TFTP bootstrap method to retrieve and/or define specific boot arguments. General information about the utilization of the network support package to enable loading of boot image from a remote boot server may be found within Open Firmware Recommended Practice: TFTP Booting Extension Version 1.0, which is published by the Open Firmware Working Group.
The standard network support package utilizes the TFTP bootstrap method to boot a system over the network. The boot arguments for the TFTP bootstrap method offer the option of specifying the bootstrap protocol (BOOTP) protocol to find a boot server and the boot file. Thus current (existing) definitions of boot arguments provide the option of utilizing the BOOTP, as opposed to RARP/ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) for example, to find a boot server and obtain the boot file. If the BOOTP protocol is not specified, other protocols such as RARP/APR may be utilized to get the boot file. Also, with the conventional methods, all arguments representing network addresses are specified in IPv4 format (Internet Protocol version 4).
Continuing developments have led to creation of more advanced IP format, such as IPv6. However, the existing arguments and corresponding methods for enabling remote boot operations still utilize IPv4 format, since the IPv6 format had not been previously defined. Also, with the existing methods, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) was not considered an alternative boot discovery protocol for TFTP bootstrap. The present invention thus recognizes that a need exists for upgrading the existing methods of remote boot operations to enable use of IPv6 format and DHCP to acquire the information needed to boot a system using a boot file stored on a remote server.